September PPMs, Day 2: AC Leads, With Sports Coming On Strong.

It’s sports radio season again.

As Major League Baseball’s regular season neared its final weeks at the same time as the annual kickoff of NFL and college football, another tradition continued: the sports format’s July-to-September audience boost.

For these first two days, based on the 20 non-embedded markets in Nielsen’s September PPM survey (covering Aug. 21-Sept. 17), the number of sports stations leading their markets increased from two and one — in July and August, respectively — to three for September, closely matching activity from a year ago when sports also had three winners vs. one and none in July and August. (The total moved from none in July or August to two in September during 2023.)

Nielsen data for its 45 PPM markets shows a similar pattern from July to September, with persons 6+ shares up 26% in 2023, 20% in 2024 and 23% in 2025. Based on trends from both earlier years, the October survey should see another increase for sports, with shares up an average 11.5%. 

Adult contemporary’s usual dominance is also worth mentioning, with four stations in the format at No. 1 during these first two days, matching August’s four and just under July’s five. 

For Days 1 and 2, the leaderboard shows AC with four crowns, three each for news/talk and sports, two for classic hits, classic rock and urban AC, and one each for news, hot AC, soft AC, country and rock.

The share gap between DC’s top two news stations gets a lot smaller in September’s survey, as Hubbard Radio all-news WTOP, on top for a third straight month, now leads American University news/talk WAMU by just two-tenths of a point. No change, meanwhile, for the rest of the top five, as Howard University urban AC WHUR and iHeartMedia’s modern/alternative rock “DC101” WWDC-FM and AC WASH stay at 3-4-5.

Audacy AC “Magic 106.7” WMJX has been Boston’s No. 1 station for seven of Nielsen’s nine surveys for 2025 to date, with its share up 44% over the last two months. Magic is 1.8 ahead of Beasley Media Group classic hits WROR, which gains 1.1 to move from fourth to second. July’s champ, iHeart classic rock WZLX, comes in third, while Beasley’s “98.5 The Sports Hub” WBZ-FM returns to the top five after a five-book absence, with the Patriots flagship up 37% since July.

Cox Media Group’s top two in Miami go back and forth again, as urban AC “Hot 105” WHQT, last on top in June, edges out soft AC sister and August’s leader “Easy 93.1” WFEZ by just 0.2. Audacy claims third and fourth with AC “101.5 Lite FM” WLYF and classic hits “102.7 The Beach” WMXJ.

It’s now nine straight surveys at No. 1 for news/talk pubcaster KUOW-FM, keeping three points ahead of Mariners flagship Bonneville “Seattle Sports 710” KIRO-AM. iHeart classic hits “95.7 The Jet” KJEB and Audacy “Rock 99.9” KISW rank third and fourth, while Classic Radio classical KING-FM moves back into the top five.

Hubbard classic rock KSLX makes it six consecutive wins as it widens its lead over iHeart AC “99.9 K-EZ” KESZ to 2.7 share points. iHeart takes the rest of the top five as well, with country KNIX, adult hits “95.5 The Mountain” KYOT and talk KFYI at third, fourth and fifth.

Audacy sports “97.1 The Ticket” WXYT-FM moves back to first place after finishing a close second in August to iHeart AC WNIC, now itself a close second at half a share point behind WXYT. Also swapping spots are iHeart urban AC sister “Mix 92.3” WMXD and Audacy classic hits WOMC, now in third and fourth, respectively.

iHeart sports “K-Fan” KFXN extends its winning streak to nine consecutive surveys, with its share up 25% since July and with a 2.5-share-point lead over Hubbard hot AC “KS95” KSTP-FM. Below contemporary Christian and news/talk pubcasters KTIS-FM and news/talk KNOW, at third and fourth, iHeart country sister “K102” KEEY moves back into the top five for the first time since May 2024.

Audacy classic hits “Sunny 98.1” KXSN not only continues to own the No. 1 spot in San Diego for all of 2025 to date, its lead over Comunicacion XERSA hot AC “Magic 92.5” XHRM, which has placed second for six of 2025’s nine surveys, has increased to 3.3 share points. News/talk pubcaster KPBS moves up to third, while Audacy’s sports and Padres flagship “97.3 The Fan” KWFN and AC KYXY tie for fourth.

It remains a close race between CMG soft AC WDUV and Radio Training Network contemporary Christian “The Joy FM” WCIE, with the former ahead of the latter by 0.2. Between CMG’s classic rock “The Eagle 107.3” WXGL at third and AC “Magic 94.9” WWRM fifth, iHeart country “US 103.5” WFUS bounces back into the top five.

For the first time since November 2024, Bonneville’s AC KOSI and country KYGO tie for first. The two are 1.5 share points ahead of Audacy classic rock “99.5 The Mountain” KQMT, which would also be tied for third with hot AC sister “Alice 105.9” KALC, if not for a tenth-of-a-point difference.

Urban One urban AC “Magic 95.9” WWIN-FM makes it eight wins in a row, as it keeps a 1.7 share advantage over urban contemporary sister “92Q Jams” WERQ. Remaining in the top five, at 3-4-5, are Hearst’s “98 Rock” WIYY, Audacy AC “Today's 101.9” WLIF, and iHeart country WPOC.

It’s a ninth straight survey at No. 1 for Hubbard rocker KSHE, 1.8 ahead of iHeart classic hits KLOU, which has finished second for all nine of those books. Gateway Creative contemporary Christian “99.1 Joy FM” KLJY moves back up to third, while iHeart country “93.7 The Bull” KSD-FM, which has steadily gained share since June, up 31%, takes fourth.